6 ms·

Microsoft still acts unethically today. NT still has backdoors, almost their entire stack is proprietary. Just because they have made some parts of what they do

by cyphar 10y ago

Microsoft still acts unethically today. NT still has backdoors, almost their entire stack is proprietary. Just because they have made some parts of what they do free software doesn't turn them into the technological equivalent of Jesus. Yes, I am happy that they are freeing some of the stuff they do, but it's clear that they're doing it as a marketing move not because they care about user freedom. So I don't see them ever making the whole stack free software.

Ezhik 10y ago
They're not Jesus, but they are not Satan either. I've seen EEE called on every single good gesture Satya's Microsoft did, and it's getting old. Is Microsoft the savior of OSS? No. Is the company doing something nice by open sourcing components? Yes.
wfunction 10y ago
> NT still has backdoors For someone speaking of ethics you really can't just leave this here without any support...
- cyphar 10y ago
  http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html
  - wfunction 10y ago
    They seem exaggerated for "back doors", because it's possible to avoid them. Yes some defaults might be malicious but the bar for calling something a backdoor is higher than just malicious.
pjmlp 10y ago
Have you seen the backdoors on Mac OS X, customized Android versions and every other commercial OSes out there?
- Razengan 10y ago
  Which backdoors on [current] Mac OS X versions are you referring to?
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    The ones that no one knows that exist or not, Microsoft isn't the only company selling closed source OSes. Darwin doesn't count, because it isn't the full stack, nor can we be 100% sure that even that part of the code is shipped like that.
    - amag 10y ago
      Done a lot of code-review of Linux lately?
      - pjmlp 10y ago
        If you bother to read the whole thread, my point is why HNers single out Microsoft, when the same cannot be proven for other companies as well.
- cyphar 10y ago
  > backdoors on Mac OS X That's proprietary too, so sure. But why are you mentioning Apple in a thread about Windows? I never said Apple was good either... > customized Android versions Android is mostly proprietary as well. Replicant is as close as you can get to a free fork of Android. > every other commercial OSes s/commercial/proprietary/g
  - pjmlp 10y ago
    Because many HNers like to bash Microsoft, while at the same time give a white pass the SV beloved companies, which happen to have similar practices.

by cyphar 10y ago

Ezhik 10y ago

They're not Jesus, but they are not Satan either. I've seen EEE called on every single good gesture Satya's Microsoft did, and it's getting old. Is Microsoft the savior of OSS? No. Is the company doing something nice by open sourcing components? Yes.

wfunction 10y ago

> NT still has backdoors For someone speaking of ethics you really can't just leave this here without any support...

cyphar 10y ago
http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html
- wfunction 10y ago
  They seem exaggerated for "back doors", because it's possible to avoid them. Yes some defaults might be malicious but the bar for calling something a backdoor is higher than just malicious.

pjmlp 10y ago

Have you seen the backdoors on Mac OS X, customized Android versions and every other commercial OSes out there?

Razengan 10y ago
Which backdoors on [current] Mac OS X versions are you referring to?
- pjmlp 10y ago
  The ones that no one knows that exist or not, Microsoft isn't the only company selling closed source OSes. Darwin doesn't count, because it isn't the full stack, nor can we be 100% sure that even that part of the code is shipped like that.
  - amag 10y ago
    Done a lot of code-review of Linux lately?
    - pjmlp 10y ago
      If you bother to read the whole thread, my point is why HNers single out Microsoft, when the same cannot be proven for other companies as well.
cyphar 10y ago
> backdoors on Mac OS X That's proprietary too, so sure. But why are you mentioning Apple in a thread about Windows? I never said Apple was good either... > customized Android versions Android is mostly proprietary as well. Replicant is as close as you can get to a free fork of Android. > every other commercial OSes s/commercial/proprietary/g
- pjmlp 10y ago
  Because many HNers like to bash Microsoft, while at the same time give a white pass the SV beloved companies, which happen to have similar practices.